Madison Keys Shares Thoughts on the Political Climate in the United States After Advancing to the Australian Open Third Round

Madison Keys will face Karolina Pliskova in the third round of the Australian Open.

Madison Keys Shares Thoughts on the Political Climate in the United States After Advancing to the Australian Open Third Round

Madison Keys (via Instagram)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Madison Keys has declared that the current sociopolitical climate in the United States of America has been divisive under President Donald Trump. The former World No.5 claimed her place in the third round of the Australian Open after beating fellow compatriot Ashlyn Krueger in straight sets.

Just one year into Donald Trump’s second term in office, America has experienced a shift in policy and politics that has led to several protests by its citizens. There has been a noticeable divide between political affiliations in the country, which has led to hateful rhetoric from several political figures.

Fellow Americans like Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have all noted that the issues with the country center on the current divisiveness, which has now eaten deep into the social fabric of the society. Both players called for unity and togetherness, stressing that this is the only antidote to the problems.

It is not the first time that Gauff and Pegula have spoken about the country’s situation. Gauff said after winning the 2025 French Open that the 2024 presidential election that led to Trump’s victory was a “down period” in America. Also, last year, Keys said in an interview that things are becoming “crazy” in the country.

After Keys’ victory over Krueger on Thursday (January 22), she was asked to give her opinion about the current state of America. The defending champion highlighted that she hopes her country gets back to its core values and unites, while breaking off any kind of divisiveness that has led to the current issues:

I think my stance has been pretty obvious. I think it’s pretty obvious where I stand, and I am hopeful that we, as a country, can come together and get back to the values that I think make our country great. I am not a fan of divisiveness, and I think the beauty of the US is we are a mixing pot, we are very diverse, we are a home of immigrants. I hope that we can get back to those values.

Some of the problems that have made headlines in America deal with racial equity, particularly in the black community and immigration. Since Trump began his second term as President, he has deported several immigrants, claiming that they had entered the country illegally and had defended that the previous administration wasn’t supposed to allow them in at first.

Madison Keys still hopes to defend the Australian Open despite not being among the favorites

Since Madison Keys claimed her maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open twelve months ago, she has yet to play in another tour-level final. In fact, the last time she reached the semi-finals of a tournament was at the Queen’s Club Championships in June. She was meant to defend the Adelaide International before arriving in Melbourne, but she crashed out in the quarter-finals.

Madison Keys Queen's Club Championships 2025
Madison Keys (Image via Queen’s Club Championships)

Given her recent results, there are doubts that she might not have the ability to win a second consecutive title in Melbourne. During the aforementioned press conference, Keys noted that she’s playing with the same mindset she used to win the Australian Open, despite not being among the top favorites:

Last year I played some unbelievable tennis and it’s one of those things where you have moments in your career where things just aren’t going right, and that’s how it felt for a couple of weeks. But even then I feel like there were still moments throughout the Australian Open last year where things got really tricky and it’s easy to look back and romanticise it and think I played unbelievable tennis.

Keys will face Karolina Pliskova in the third round of the Australian Open. Pliskova has experienced a resurgence in her career for the past few months. The Czech Republic star struggled with injuries and was only able to play two WTA 125 tournaments last year, but at the Melbourne Grand Slam, she has won two matches.

Also Read: After Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula Gets Asked the Donald Trump Question at the Australian Open